why are we here, if not to create?

Harvesting the Value of Processing: A case for product differentiation based on coffee processing methods. The craft world of coffee in the United States is booming, at least for my generation of millennials. “Trendy” only begins to describe it, as fellow millennials form Meetup groups around the idea and swap stories about their local…

Farming Up: A study of the merits and conditions for a laboratory coffee farm I. INTRODUCTION The economics of commodity coffee have a special personality. It is one of the most traded commodities in the world, but it’s almost exclusively produced in developing countries, and consumed in developed ones. This is predominantly due to climatic…

The staying power of Bernie Sanders in the political mayhem of 2016 has been nothing short of incredible, unless of course you look across the aisle and try to understand that. But I wouldn’t speculate with you about Drumpf’s rise, because I’m afraid we won’t understand what happened there for another few years. Bernie’s draw,…

A brief introduction to: Ego – a common force behind such celebrities as Donald Drumpf and visionaries like Elon Musk – is driven by a complex cocktail of self-promotion, instinct and focus. It is the will and confidence to assert yourself, and your ideas, beyond your immediate surroundings. But like any power, or cocktail for that matter, it…

On May 31st, Elise and I moved out of our apartment in the Boston area, setting out on a very adventurous chapter of our lives. Since then, 6 months ago, I’ve covered enough miles to circle the globe twice, slept in 6 countries, but never in the same bed for more than 16 nights in a…

Conventional wisdom is a powerful force in our willingness to accept the status quo, and sometimes it’s surprising to see what you find when you step back and question the basics… For example, I’ve been asked a lot of interesting questions while working for Tesla, some more valid that others, and it made me wonder what the first…

Ah, the American Dream. Consider it not only the abstract goal of generations of people, but also the blueprint for a successful life. Each step promises to bring us closer to eternal happiness and fulfillment. But where does that come in? Sometime between family and death, I presume. It seems we are obsessed with progressing…

BLUF: With over a century’s worth of changes, updates and tweaks, the modern internal combustion engine has gotten us as far as it can go. It’s time to embrace the simple efficiency of the electric motor. Ever since the first Model T rolled off the production line in 1908, engineers have evolved better and better…

or “How Team Rubicon Does Veteran Reintegration” October 26,2015 – Even though the floodwaters had subsided, the outskirts of Columbia, SC remained an increasingly precarious environment for the locals. Black mold was ubiquitous, and with most of the population barely able to afford their next meal, its growth went relatively unchecked. The scene was indeed…

Experts say that a new social generation is born every 10-20 years, and in that time, people not only tend to develop similarities with each other, but also common dissimilarities with other generations. This is significant because as each generation ages, the blend of personality types in the economy shifts. I am a millennial, a…